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A Cultural Identity Crisis In American Elementary Schools

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One can say I had a cultural identity crisis as a six-year-old when I learned that purple rice and five other side dishes is not a typical lunch for American elementary school students. As a result, I would complain to my mom everyday: Why is my lunch the only one that “looks weird” and not “American” enough? What my parents were not aware of, was the teasing and strange looks I received from my classmates for the food I was packed in my homemade doshirak (a Korean lunch box set). While the other kids had a slice of pizza, a bag of chips, and a milk carton on a silver tray, I had a variation of side dishes, including fishcakes, small fried anchovies, and dried seaweed, and purple rice. Even as an innocent seven-year-old, I felt embarrassment about a matter as trivial as a packed lunch. I wished for acceptance in a world where so far, I felt I was not acknowledged because of my lunch. As my elementary school years passed, I learned to withstand the judgment by hovering over my lunches, as if I had a secret, in a pitiful …show more content…

Would the next three years still be full of glaring and teasing? Overwhelmed with insecurities, I dreaded lunch time for the first week of school. A few weeks into the school year, I met a group of Korean friends. They did not have a doshirak like I did, but was instead jealous of the fancy lunches I brought everyday compared to their salads and sandwiches. Every lunch period, my friends would compliment how delicious my purple rice and side dishes looked, and how lucky I was to be able to enjoy a luxurious lunch everyday. Their reactions took me by surprise. I later understood that as Koreans, my friends were aware of the food I packed since they have tried it before. Although my friends never said so, they indirectly encouraged me to appreciate the lunches I was packed, and not feel embarrassed by it. I realized it was unnecessary to hide my identity, similar to how I used to hide my lunches, and instead take pride in

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